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English definition

A neologism from ‘laptop computer’ and ‘electronica’, the term gained a certain degree of currency in the 1990s and is of significance due to the use of highly powerful computation being made available to musicians in highly portable form, and therefore in live performance. Many sophisticated forms of sound production, manipulation and organisation (which had hitherto only been available in studios or academic institutions) became available to use in live performance, largely by younger musicians influenced by and interested in developing experimental popular music forms. Nowadays, the term seems to be less common, perhaps because it is problematic in not defining musical contents or aesthetic nuance.